“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now he has felt that if the “authority,” the people, do not like what he says, then they will not buy his books, and deny him that “welfare.” At the same time he has been determined to go ahead. Instead of the people giving him handouts as a child, where he had to be careful of what he did and said, he saw them as contributing to his welfare through buying his books, and if he went too far and offended them, they would stop.

Their ideas ruled the world. Their ideas carry the weight of mass acceptance. He has done his thing, but fearfully. Only lately has he realized that he has no respect for any of the authorities, as they call him or write him, or approach him. As with today’s psychologist, he sees that in many ways they know far less than he, and are looking to him for help and direction. These are the people, he suddenly sees, that so frightened him.

Give us a moment.... Again, you cannot be afraid of the opinions of the world unless you value its opinions above your own. This is a difficult lesson to learn, and many live lives in which the entire question is never encountered. Ruburt suddenly realizes that in basic ways he does not respect the opinions of the world. Therefore those opinions no longer have the power to frighten him. When you are not challenging the world’s concepts there is hardly any problem.

None of this ever had to do with Ruburt privately, but with Ruburt and his contact with the world. None of our sessions, or his own natural development would ever bother him. The question was how these could be related to the world, how people would interpret or misinterpret, or how he would be regarded—for he took it for granted that anyone offering revolutionary ideas would be punished or ostracized.

Other issues have been contributing to today’s suddenly noticeable improvement. Psycho-Cybernetics does reach him at a certain point; Edwards has helped—but all of this only because he is ready. He sees that no one else has anything better to offer the world.

Actually some of the responses to Personal Reality have helped him considerably, as he sees that so-called authorities are greedy for these ideas, and need them desperately. His beliefs therefore have been changing. He feels free to move, and that symbolically and literally means a new “place.” That also applies to you, and both of you jointly, which is even more important: your joint agreement.

Now, dear friend, you have also shared some of these ideas, and to some extent seen Ruburt’s physical condition as a symbolic statement of how the so-called authorities viewed our joint work. Ruburt is striking. In his physical condition he is still striking. People still notice him. They notice him even more now because of the eccentricity of walk. This bothers you. It bothers Ruburt. You do not like to be out with him, on a certain level now, because he is so noticeable, so obvious. It offends your idea of secrecy, privacy, and being anonymous. I do not mean that you are not sympathetic. You follow me.

In those terms you are “out of your time.” You have been through the same kind of encounters, however, enmeshed in them like anyone else, so you have no right to feel superior. The implied sense of superiority is what made Ruburt so angry at authorities, so defiant. They seemed to have power over him that he resented. You cannot speak to your age, your time, unless you understand it, and you cannot understand it unless at one time or another you feel the weight of its authoritative beliefs. So Ruburt grew up where they were important.

Further library experiences will help Ruburt. Again, do not become impatient, tell him. You choose books rather than television appearances, because of your feelings of secrecy and safety. Your house should have a foyer for the same reasons, and some definite stated area between private and public land. This will make a big difference to each of you.

You can definitely expect better walking shortly. Your participation in class is important because it represents an opening of your secrecy. Ruburt felt you wanted him to go ahead but not go ahead in that regard. Do you follow me?

The book Ruburt ordered can be helpful if he ignores some of the suggestions, and you help him with the adjustments that will operate simply as aids.

Encourage Ruburt to go out with you more. Each of you cop out in that regard, using time as an excuse. He will, however, feel freer, there is no doubt of it, when he does not think of the hallway as the place where the public world begins. He uses that surely in line with the beliefs given—but the private area will still help him along the way. I am not excusing the belief.

He feels that 45, for him, is a significant age, and so it is, for there he picks up some strands of knowledge that he had, but was not free enough to use, earlier. And as I recall, the same occurred to you at that age, Joseph. The important thing however is that the body is responding.